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Data breach

Personal data and startup ideas of 5,000 "Everyone's Startup" winners leaked

First reported · Last reported · 65 related reports

It was revealed that in June 2026, personal information and startup ideas of 5,000 successful applicants were leaked from the "Everyone's Startup" platform. The hacker was identified as a company participating in the project. The Ministry of SMEs and Startups completed blocking measures and apologized, and said it would support proof of original authorship of the ideas. Police opened a preliminary inquiry into how the leak occurred.

Key facts

Affected organization
Ministry of SMEs and Startups
Incident type
Data breach
Occurred / detected
Not confirmed
Scale of damage
Personal information and startup ideas of 5,000 successful applicants
Cause / method
Hacking of the platform by a company participating in the project
Location
South Korea

If your data was exposed

View Ministry of SMEs and Startups notice ↗
  1. Don’t tap links in texts, calls or emails that mention this incident and offer compensation, refunds or breach checks. Check directly on the organization’s official website or app.
  2. If you’ve suffered harm, report it. Call 118 (no area code) for privacy violations, contact the police for financial losses, and apply for dispute mediation to seek compensation.Personal Information Infringement Report Center ↗Korean National Police Agency cybercrime report ↗Personal Information Dispute Mediation Committee ↗

Lookup and notice links are official pages found by AI. Make sure the address is on the organization’s official domain before using it.

Timeline

  1. The leak of personal information of 5,000 successful applicants was disclosed, and the Ministry of SMEs and Startups said blocking measures were completed.
  2. It was disclosed that the hacker was a company participating in the project.
  3. The Minister of SMEs and Startups formally apologized and said the ministry would support proof of original authorship of ideas.
  4. Police opened a preliminary inquiry to trace how the personal information leaked.
  5. A plan to resume the "Everyone's Startup" program and select 10,000 more people in a second round was disclosed.

65 related reports

The summary and key facts are written by AI from related reports and may contain errors. Check the original articles and the organization’s official statements for accurate details.